When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

18 April 2005

Fatigue, exhaustion. Other than that, things are great. Gah!

A quick medical update:

Blood sugar is coming down nicely. This morning, before breakfast, it was within twenty mg/dL of textbook-normal, which is nothing short of amazing (to me, anyway) in a month. (That's right, gentle readers: on the 18th of March, at roughly this time, I was whacked out on painkillers and flat on my back in a hospital bed at St. Vincent's, and my blood had more sugar in it than the iced tea at a barbecue joint.)

Just as the doctor promised, too, now that my blood glucose levels are down from the stratosphere, I am able to focus my eyes normally again. So I won't need to be fitted for wraparound shades and a German Shepherd just yet, which is good news.

I'm following my diet pretty rigorously, making an effort to get some extra exercise, (mostly) getting enough sleep, and in general trying to Do The Right Things to take care of myself.

So why am I so tired all the time? I have never been so exhausted in my life.

After six hours at work, I hit the wall. Trouble is, I work nine-hour days at the office and often bring work home besides (like tonight... I'm eating dinner and blogging simultaneously rather than finishing a report that has to be reviewed at 10 AM tomorrow.)

Fatigue is, apparently, a common symptom in newly diagnosed diabetics. I've been burning up the lines over at Medscape and have turned up some interesting complementary therapies with some seemingly sound science backing them up: going to be asking the doc (I see him tomorrow) about adding chromium picolinate and vitamin B-12 to the mix. Also omega-3 fatty acids.

And perhaps methamphetamine.

Thankfully, my doctor has steady nerves and is used to me looking up things on the Internet(s).

Now off to finish that report and collapse in a trembling heap.

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